"Test everything; retain what is good.” (1 Thes 5:21) A laywoman expresses concerns about issues in the Roman Catholic Church to foster positive dialogue by posing and exploring questions.
Please remember that Canon Law says it is not only a right but a duty to question the church. Also, Canon Law provides an over-riding power to the sensus fidelium (sense of the faithful). By this, Canon Law says that if the sensus fidelium (collective of the faithful) reject a law, it is not valid.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

I am closer to believing...

What is it about the change in popes that keeps excavating tunes from my
rock audio archives?

When I read that Pope Francis wanted a “poor church”, I thought, “…so said
the man who will soon live in opulence and privilege.”Secretly I held no hope for Francis leading
needed institutional reform unless he lived outside the Vatican.But lo, today I read that he has opted to
live in a 2-room suite in the Vatican guesthouse rather than live in the Apostolic
Palace’s 10-room papal apartment.Though
he will still reside inside Vatican City, he will do so in one unit of a 131-unit
communal residence on the outskirts of the city-state.Suddenly in my head I heard Greg Lake
singing, “I am closer to believing than I ever was before…”

I am encouraged that Pope Frank is comfortable enough in his own skin
to break long-held church traditions.However, so far, he’s mostly dispensed with symbolic traditions.Does he have the conviction and leadership
skills to undertake substantive changes?That is the difference between being an admirable human and an effective
leader.So far he has proven to be an
admirable human.I await evidence of him
being an effective leader.

He recently spoke about the importance of avoiding moral
relativism.I have observed some of the
worst moral relativism coming from hierarchical leaders who wantonly violate
truth to protect their institution, reputation or power.I find myself wondering if Francis will
address this form of moral relativism.

Married clergy existed in the church for more years than there has been
mandatory celibacy.Women were ordained,
especially as deacons, but also as priests and bishops in the early
church.What will Francis do about the moral
relativism re-writing historical facts about married and female clergy?Will he get his papal pen out and open all
seven sacraments to women by permitting the ordination of female deacons and
priests tomorrow?Will he use that same
pen to reinstate married clergy?There
is nothing stopping him from doing this immediately – other than clinging to
the moral relativism that protects status quo.

Will Francis address the moral relativism that rejects modern
understandings about human biology, psychology, and sexuality?Will he address the moral relativism of
active homosexual hierarchy members denouncing homosexuality and advocating
discriminatory legislation?Will he
address the moral relativism of sexually active clergy feigning sexual
continence while berating the sexual practices of the laity?

Will Frank address the moral relativism of bishops cozying up to the wealthy
and politicians who exploit or ignore the impoverished and marginalized?

There is also the question of his willingness to reform practices and
Canon Laws that enabled rapists to continue raping children.And there are questions about his willingness
to help the abuse survivors heal, work to restore rightfully lost trust, and
put a moratorium on bishops feigning sympathetic care to lure victims into
trust only to violate that trust protecting church financial assets instead.Will there be new canons requiring
transparency or the same old story of people having to battle for every word of
information while bishops maintain a public mantra of empty words about how
much they want to help victims heal?What will he do about bishops declaring bankruptcy rather than paying
restitution to pedophile victims?

Then there is the question of his willingness to deal with bishops who
violate norms for protecting children.Will
there be new canons holding accountable those bishops who enable sexually
abusive priests? Why is convicted
criminal, Opus Dei Bishop Finn of Kansas City, MO, still an active bishop,
though in 2011 he failed to report a priest to authorities for taking
pornographic pictures of little girls’ genitals?Why are bishops and cardinals who paid and
moved clergy still active bishops?Why is
Cardinal Rigali who lied about and permitted abusive priests to continue in
ministry still on the Congregation for Bishops (that chooses new bishops), on
the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America, the Chair of the
University Seminary Committee, and on the Board of Directors of the National
Catholic Bioethics Center?What is Francis going to do about serial
pedophile enabler Cardinal Law?

There is also the question of what Francis will do about the closing of
parishes and selling of church properties.What will he do about the violations of Canon law here?

What will Francis do to reinstate the thousands of theologians and lay
ministers censured or excommunicated?What will he do about Canon Law that permits institutional bullying?What will he do to reform church governance
to move away from a feudal system that doesn’t serve the people of God, i.e.,
the church?

There is the question of how he will handle the most recent Vatican
Bank scandals.As some history, that bank
has endured scandals almost since Pope Pius XII first established it in
1942.One example of scandal in its
history occurred in 1982.The Vatican
Bank was a major shareholder in Banco Ambrosiano which went bankrupt that year
causing the Vatican Bank to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.Soon afterwards its chairman, Roberto Calvi,
died hanging from a London bridge in what has been ruled an unsolved homicide.

More recently an Italian priest and a lawyer were charged with
defrauding insurance companies and using the Vatican Bank to launder the
money.Earlier this year, European Union
(EU) banks weren’t allowed to conduct transactions with the Vatican due to lack
of financial transparency – again concerns about money laundering. Until the Vatican found a non-EU Swiss bank
to use, it couldn’t do things like process credit card transactions at the
Vatican Museum.Prosecutors
investigating financial crimes repeatedly experience the bank’s “haughty
resistance to European Union laws” with communications being ignored or rejected.

Benedict did try to address the bank’s scandals by issuing a papal
letter in 2010 forbidding money laundering and established an oversight
watchdog organization. But the bank
fired its chief, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi in 2012 because he was being investigated
for – money laundering.I guess the
Vatican is not as persnickety about adhering to papal edicts associated with
financial corruption as they are to ones about keeping women out of ordained
ministry.Or maybe we could call that
moral relativism?

How will he handle Vatileaks and restitution to the whistleblower who
was imprisoned for calling attention to the rampant corruption in Vatican
Curia?Will he reform the Curia as the
Cardinals have desired since before the 1964 Second Vatican Council?Will he publish the Vatileaks report and show
transparency?His brother cardinals
requested copies of the Vatileaks report before holding the conclave that
elected him.Now that he’s pope, is he
going to treat them as equals and share the information or continue the Vatican
perennial sport of secrecy?

I realize this is a rather long list of needed reforms and it’s not
even complete.I don’t expect Francis to
address them all immediately.But if he
wants me to get any “closer to believing” he needs to make some profound
progress on at least one of these.If
given the choice, I prefer he retain the traditional custom-made red shoes but
make progress on any one of these substantive matters.

2 comments:

I think maybe our new pope's untraditional foot washing (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/28/pope-frances-washes-feet/2028595/) is a good sign that he doesn't intend to blindly follow the actions of his predecessors. How can we follow Christ's example of washing others' feet?

While I agree that it is positive that Francis included women in the symbolic foot washing ceremony, the question continues to be one of substantive changes versus symbolic ones. Also, there is the question of leadership versus personal behaviors.

Francis washed women's feet when he was an archbishop in Argentina but unfortunately he also vigorously fought against women's rights in society. I'd give up the symbolic feet washing to get him truly supporting women in society. And yes, I also agree that it is good to serve, washing others' feet. Thanks for your thoughts.

About Me

I am a single mother of three who from the eyes of the Roman Catholic hierarchy is in full communion with the Church. But I question if any woman is capable of being in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church due to clericalism, sexism, and the marginalization, and emotional abuse of women.
I hold a master degree in theology from Loyola (Master of Pastoral Studies, M.P.S.). I am not employed by the Catholic Church but rather am an executive consultant.
Some ask if I want to be a priest. We are baptized priest, prophet and king. I feel I am more called to exercise my prophetic voice than a priestly one.
(Artwork supplied courtesy of one of my daughters.)